Nigerian Government Making Another Attempt to Shut-Down Nitel:

The Nigerian government is to make another attempt at shutting down its loss making landline operator, Nitel and its mobile subsidiary, Mtel after a court blocked its previous liquidation attempt a couple of weeks ago.

The government has been trying to liquidate the firm since early 2012.

Various attempts to privatise the company or turn around its fortunes have stalled, but despite that there is still political support for yet another attempt to rescue the ailing telecoms operator.

Local company, Transcorp bought a 75% stake in 2006 in Nitel for $750 million during an earlier privatization sale, but the government reclaimed the stake in 2009 following several years of neglect.

Since then there have been three aborted attempts to sell the company, with the last failing in June 2011 when the Omen International Consortium failed to pay a required US$105 million deposit on the sale.

Vodafone Talks Could Lead to UK Tie-Up with BSkyB:

UK based Vodafone and the satellite TV broadcaster, BSkyB are reported to have been holding talks about a possible joint-venture between the two companies.

BSkyB was recently considered to be a potential takeover target for Vodafone, but the latest talks are not thought to involve an outright purchase.

The two firms are said to be concerned about the surging expansion of the dominant landline operator, British Telecom (BT) into more media services, the core market for BSkyB, and a fresh move into mobile services.

Citing unnamed sources, the Sunday Times said that BSkyB and Vodafone have discussed striking deals on Sky's sports and movie channels and is collaborating on a high-speed broadband service with Vodafone's rival EE.

BSkyB has a sizable domestic broadband internet division in addition to its satellite TV broadcasts.

Vodafone could resell Sky services, offering quad-play options to its subscribers.

Telecom Egypt Denies Plans to Sell 45% Stake in Local Vodafone Subsidiary:

Telecom Egypt has refuted reports that it is looking to sell its 45% stake in Vodafone's local subsidiary to Saudi Telecom.

The company issued a statement stating that the report in the Al Rainewspaper that it was looking to sell the stake was incorrect.

Despite the denial, the majority government owned landline operator saw its shares surge on expectation of the sale.

Telecom Egypt has been expected to consider a sale of its stake in Vodafone Egypt as part of its plans to launch its own MVNO, which would be a competitor to Vodafone in the country.

Telkom South Africa Sells Subsidiary Companies:

South Africa's dominant landline operator, Telkom has sold its Pan African business, iWayAfrica and Africa Online Mauritius through a private sale to Gondwana International Networks.

Financial terms were not disclosed.

iWayAfrica was formed as the result of the amalgamation of MWEB Africa and Africa Online in 2007 when MWEB Africa was purchased by Telkom.

Telkom's Group Chief Executive Officer, Mr Sipho Maseko, said, "This transaction is one of many initiatives that will contribute to our own turnaround, allowing us to focus on our core South African fixed-line and mobile operations. We are also pursuing several other initiatives in a coordinated manner to restore Telkom's financial health."

Maseko said that Telkom has struggled to drive growth and profitability in the iWayAfrica business since it was acquired.

"Several years of poor performance of the iWay Group has resulted in continued negative EBITDA contribution to our Group."

The iWayAfrica business operates in eight countries on the continent offering terrestrial wireless and VSAT services to business and residential markets as well as via its channel partners in many other countries on the continent.

Mobily Extends Takeover Talks for Local Landline Operator by Two Months

Saudi Arabia's Etihad Etisalat (Mobily) is taking longer to complete a previously announced deal to buy the local landline operator, Etihad Atheeb.

The company announced back in August that it was to buy a majority stake in the landline network, and had set a deadline of the end of this month to secure the regulatory approvals and complete due diligence on the firm.

It has now extended the talks until the end of next January, and the talks are no longer exclusive, allowing a rival bidder to emerge. Bahrain's Batelco owns a 15% stake in the company, but has shied away from buying the entire company in the past.

Etihad Atheeb had itself previously expressed an interest in buying a stake in a mobile network operator, but has posted years of losses and was now seen as a likely target for a buyout by one of the country's mobile networks instead.

Etihad Atheeb Telecom is a joint venture of Atheeb Trading Company, Al-Nahla Trading Company, Bahrain's Batelco and Traco Company. Just under half its shares are listed on the stock exchange, where its shares have been suspended several times over the years due to its ongoing losses.

Telkom Indonesia Denies Plans for Mobile Network IPO:

Indonesia's Telekomunikasi (Telkom) has refuted reports that it is planning a stock market listing for its mobile network subsidiary, Telkomsel.

The Jakarta Globe had suggested that Telkom was looking at a stock market listing for Telkomsel, which it owns a 65% stake in.

The landline operator said in a statement that "up to now we do not have plan to sell Telkomsel's shares".

The company did however confirm that it has plans to unlock some of its portfolio's value through either a partnership or IPO. The company is therefore looking at options for its tower business, Mitratel.

Telkom added that following the Mitratel deal, it will spin off some of Telkomsel's towers -- although it will need approval from Telkomsel's 35% shareholder, Singapore's Singtel.

Swaziland's SPTC to Relaunch Modified Version of Wireless Service:

Swaziland's monopoly landline operator, the SPTC says that it will switch on a fixed wireless service.

In order to get around the dispute with MTN which had seen the previous mobile service disabled last September as it broke MTN's mobile monopoly, the wireless receivers will have to be adapted to ensure they can only work in a fixed location.

SPTC's acting Managing Director Petros Dlamini made the announcement at a press event.

"I would like to assure the thousands of customers who bought our fixed phones and thousands of customers who bought our wireless dongles that their service will be re-provisioned for the wireless local loop service," the Times of Swaziland reports Dlamini as saying.

South Africa's MTN set up a mobile network in Swaziland in 1998, which is actually a joint-venture with SPTC and was granted a monopoly on mobile services. When SPTC started its own mobile service in 2011, MTN took the matter to court and after a series of disputes, won the case.

"The modified fixed phones will be relaunched before the end of the second quarter or sooner," Dlamini added.

Telecom Namibia Rebranded Mobile Subsidiary:

The Namibian mobile network operator, Leo had adopted the brandname of its landline operator parent, Telecom Namibia and is to be known as TM Mobile.

Telecom managing director Frans Ndoroma said his company acquired Powercom, which traded as Leo last year and the board of directors and management decided to give it a vibrant new brand; TN Mobile.

"The unveiling of the TN Mobile brand is aimed at supporting the Telecom Namibia Group's strategic direction. The introduction of a new brand also represents the beginning of the end of Leo branding across our operations," Ndoroma explained.

The former Leo website is already redirecting visitors to the Telecom Namibia website.

Leo was owned by Telecel Globe, a subsidiary of Egypt's Orascom Telecom and was sold to a consortium of banks for US$60 million in 2011, before being bought by Telecom Namibia, for a reportedly paltry amount in November 2012.

Telecom Namibia is 100% owned by the government and competes with MTC, which has a 90% market share of the mobile market, and is also 64% owned by the government.

Vodacom Purchase of Neotel Could Face Trade Body Obstruction:

South Africa's Wireless Access Providers' Association (WAPA) says that it would object to any attempt by Vodacom to buy the country's second largest landline operator, Neotel and said it was watching developments carefully before formulating a formal response.

WAPA believes that the acquisition would stifle competition, lead to job cuts, and do little to reduce the digital divide that it believes should be the country's top priority with regard to broadband.

WAPA says that it is seeing an increase in membership exceeding 25% per year, as smaller operators seize the gap created in the broadband market, particularly with respect to last-mile access.

"The growth in smaller operators is good for the customer and good for the country," says Christopher Geerdts, Chairperson of WAPA. "It increases competition, creates jobs and drives rural broadband penetration. Larger operators tend to cut jobs and cherry-pick customers in the most lucrative suburbs and business parks."

WAPA and many of its members have a commercial relationship with Neotel.

"WAPA's concern is that Vodacom's influence will dampen these gains achieved, severely limit open wholesale access and set back rather than increase competition and consumer choice," concludes Geerdts.